


The Me'lekat

by Oh_Contrary



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Planet, Angst, Blood and Gore, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt Lance, Injured Lance (Voltron), Injury, Werecats, alien animals, hurt pidge, is that a descriptor?, my fave tag, or a demand?, tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 02:38:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Contrary/pseuds/Oh_Contrary
Summary: “Scans indicate highly volatile wildlife. Do not engage, I repeat under no circumstances should you engage.”'Easier said than done,’ Lance thought with a grimace.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't supposed to be a thing, but I think it's gonna be a Thing.
> 
> Four parts planned, might end up 5 because I'm Trash.
> 
> Warning: There be blood ahead.
> 
> ~Tay

_ “Scans indicate highly volatile wildlife. Do not engage, I repeat under no circumstances should you engage.” _

'Easier said than done,’ Lance thought with a grimace. He breathed slowly, mindful of the claw marks crossing his shoulder blades from when the—god, what even was it? It looked like a Lynx that decided it wanted to be a red werewolf. Either way, it leapt out of a tree right over Pidge, and Lance barely managed to cover her from a swipe that could’ve easily slit her throat. Now he stood curled around Pidge, his body between her and the werecat, rifle to his eye. He could still move his arms so he could still shoot. Adrenaline was keeping the pain away for the moment.

The beast was staring him down, its sunken black eyes never wavering. Lance couldn’t tell if he should shoot first to scare it off, or wait for it to move. He had a feeling both ended with him and Pidge getting attacked though, so he waited.

Pidge pressed almost unnoticeably against his side. That or he’d swayed, leaning on her more heavily. Her hands clutched at his flight suit. 

“Lance,” she breathed, almost silent. One of her arms twitched, itching towards her bayard.

“Hold,” he responded, aiming with his bayard.

Her hand twitched again. 

“Pidge, easy.” He hissed. The werecat flicked an ear, it’s tail lashing behind it.

A twig snapped behind them.

Pidge snapped into action, activating her bayard and coiling her grapple around the neck of the second werecat. as the first one leapt into motion. Dizzy and off balance, Lance swayed, missing his first few shots at the beast and only managing to graze it’s belly as it leapt at him, slamming him to the ground.

Lance grit his teeth as the open wounds on his back met stone and twigs beneath him. His bayard fell out of his hand. He kneed the red werecat in its soft underbelly, causing the beast to jolt and growl. It reared back with a paw, swiping at his head. Lance barely managed to get his arms up, covering the back of his neck just as the paw came down. Claws raked over his hands, slashing into the armor, before continuing up, catching on the back of his helmet and flinging the entire thing away.

“Lance!” Pidge shrieked, turning to look at him even as she was dragged along by the other werecat, struggling to keep moving against the sting of her bayard.

“Pidge!” He screamed, his eyes widening as the werecat she was facing reared back, pulling her by the cord of her bayard. 

Lance kicked the werecat over him twice in the stomach, one of the kicks managing to dislodge the beast for a moment. He seized his chance,  rolling out from under its forepaws and towards his bayard. He landed again on his back and reached for it with a bleeding hand, “Come on, come on—“

A clawed paw came down on his outstretched arm, stopping him. Before he could react, the paw was followed by teeth sinking into his deltoids, right over his shoulder joint. 

He screamed, all air leaving his body as the beast’s fangs sunk into him. Fire seemed to race through his veins and his shoulder dislocated under the strength of the beast’s jaws. He went tense and still as he waited for the werecat to let go. It did, only for a moment before lunging back towards him, jaws aiming for Lance’s neck. Lance jolted away, rolling across the ground, and closed a hand around his bayard. He rolled to his knees, shooting the beast three times with shaking hands. One beam missed, but the other two went straight through its neck as it leapt towards him. The beast collided with Lance, knocking him to the ground even as it began to die. 

Lance couldn’t move. He was pinned by the hulking thing’s corpse and, as he finally began to breathe again, the many pains in his body began to make themselves known.

He heard the sound of a phaser, heard someone calling his name. His shoulder was on fire, and his entire body was buzzing, either from the burning away of adrenaline, or the coming of a second wave as he went into shock.

‘You’re going into shock. Focus on something.’ He fought through the fog encasing his brain and chose to focus on the warm drips landing rhythmically above his left eye. He counted drips for what couldn’t have been more than a minute before he heard steps race towards him. He tried to keep breathing, ignoring the heat in his veins. 

“Oh god, oh god— Shiro!” Pidge’s voice was shrill as she pushed uselessly against the  werecat’s corpse with one arm, the other cradled uselessly against her chest. “Oh god, Takashi, I can’t lift it. He’s trapped—Shiro!”

“I’ve got it, Pidge. Calm down and breathe.” Shiro took a breath, activating his arm for an extra burst of strength. The beast above him began to move. Lance bit his cheek to keep from reacting as the shifting made him aware of a pain in his hip. He breathed in, and out. Even as the animal was pulled off of him, the pressure in his chest increased and he grew hot all over. He tried to speak, but his throat closed and lava coated his veins, sending all his muscles rigid. The last thing he heard was Pidge, his name a worried breath from her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh god, Lance,” Pidge whispered as the beast was pulled away.

“Lance, can you hear me?” Shiro said calmly, crouching beside Lance’s head. Lance didn’t react. He tapped his helmet and spoke into his comm. “Allura, Coran—“

“We’re here, Shiro. Did you find them?” Coran said, stress evident in his voice. 

“Yes. Pidge is here and we have Lance. He’s severely wounded and unresponsive, but breathing.” he pulled off a glove and pressed two fingers to the side of Lance’s jaw, checking his pulse. “His pulse is strong, but I don’t know if we can get him back to the castle in time. He’s losing a lot of blood.”

“Just hang tight. Allura is already suited up and heading towards a speeder. She’ll be at your location in a tick and a half. Just stay where you are.”

Pidge scooted warily towards Lance. “Oh god, is all that blood his?” she reached for the sticky red smear over his left eye.

“Pidge, don’t—“ Shiro said, but stopped as Lance’s eyes snapped open. His eyes focused on Pidge and his mouth formed a crooked smile.  He reached a bleeding hand to grasp her wrist.

“Pidgeon,” he rasped, closing one shaking hand around her wrist. He winced as the motion tugged at the tears in the back of his hand.

“Lance, don’t move,” she said, moving her other hand to pull at his fingers, shocked to find them vice-like around her thin wrist.

“She’s right, Lance. You’re really hurt,” Shiro said, moving to kneel behind Pidge. 

In a flash, Lance’s eyes had widened and he snarled, pulling Pidge by the wrist until she was laying over his chest. He bared his teeth at Shiro, cradling Pidge against his bad shoulder and covering the back of her neck with his bleeding hand.

Everyone froze. 

“Lance?” Pidge said, trying to pull away, but stopping as his fingers tightened on the back of her neck. Her eyes flicked up at Shiro, whose eyes were wide. She tried to pull away again, but Lance tightened his grip almost to the point of pain, even as he crooned at her gently. He loosened his grip just a touch, turning his eyes from gazing at Pidge to glaring at Shiro. 

“Coran, can you hear me?” Shiro whispered in the comm.

“Shiro? What’s wrong? Allura’s almost there. Has Lance worsened?”

“No, but he’s…” Shiro looked down at Lance’s wild, jaundiced, eyes. “feral.” Coran was silent. “Coran?”

“When you say feral—“ 

Suddenly, the sound of Allura’s speeder hit Shiro’s ears, and seconds later she was gliding through the trees to the space where the three paladins are gathered.  She hopped off the speeder and ran towards them, a medical scanner in hand, before Shiro could stop her.

Lance spotted Allura and a growl tore out of his chest. He rolled, tucking Pidge beneath him on her stomach. She winced, biting her lip to keep from crying out as she landed on her front in the dirt. He knelt low over her, his heaving chest brushing her back with each breath.

“Lance, easy. She’s hurt!” Shiro said, reaching towards them. Lance tightened his grip on Pidge, hitching his knees on her hips and wedging one hand between her breastplate and the ground. He pulled her back to his chest, arching her towards him and aligning himself against her. Shiro felt more than saw Pidge wince from the movement. He could see the misalignment of her shoulder— likely dislocated from being wrenched around by the second werecat— and her face was drawn and pale. Even though she wasn’t suffering blood loss like Lance, her pain and the strain on her body was apparent.

“Shiro, stand down,” Allura said into the comms, having frozen at the edge of the small circle of trees.

Shiro’s eyes flicked from Pidge’s wan face and Lance’s snarl to Allura, whose eyes watched them warily. 

“Allura what is this?” he whispered, pulling his hands back from Pidge and Lance, resting one on his dormant bayard.

Her eyes widened, staring wide eyed at the corpse of the werecat Pidge had been fighting, this one’s fur dark russet rather than blood red.

“Coran,” she said, voice trembling as her eyes drifted from the beast to Lance’s sweating body and yellowed eyes. “It’s a Me’lekat.” 

The older Altean swore viciously into the comms, and a flurry of activity was audible through the comms. He was running.

“Did it scratch him? Bite him? What level of exposure are we looking at?”

Allura stepped closer to Lance who hunched lower over Pidge as Allura approached. “Definitely at least scratches, but there’s a wound on his shoulder that could be a bite.”

Coran swore again. “Then we might be too late—“

“But Coran,” she said, voice level. “He’s still upright. He’s… awake, aggressive even. It’s as if the venom isn’t debilitating him. He’s ignoring his injuries entirely.”

“Perhaps it’s because he’s human. His body will take the poison differently than an Altean’s Either way, bring him back immediately. Even if the venom isn’t killing him, his injuries and blood loss certainly are. And the fact that he’s ignoring his injuries means that his nervous system could be failing him. He might not be feeling pain, which is a very dangerous place to be. I want him in a pod as soon as possible.”

“Of course, Coran” Allura turned back to Lance and Pidge. “Lance? Lance, do you know who I am?”

He stared at her with narrowed eyes, but didn’t respond. Allura spoke into the comms.

“Pidge, are you okay?”

“It’s not the most comfortable position, but he isn’t actively hurting me,” she whispered. Lance turned his head to her at the sound and nuzzled his cheek against her helmet. Allura and Shiro’s eyes met over the pair, worry apparent in both gazes.

“Actively?” Shiro asked. Pidge said nothing.

“Pidge,” Allura called. “I want you to try and crawl out from under Lance. For whatever reason, he is fixated on you. I need you to lead him to my speeder so we can get him to the castle for medical attention.”

Pidge took as deep a breath as she could with Lance’s arm locked over her chest. “I’ll try.”

She tried to wiggle in Lance’s grasp, pulling a plaintive croon from his throat. He nuzzled against her again, tightening the grip of his knees on her hips. Pidge winced, trying not to think of Lance’s uncharacteristic strength and what she might have to do to break it.

Carefully, she lifted both hands and wrapped them around Lance’s forearm. “Sorry Lance,” she whispered. She sharply jabbed a finger into one of the gashes raking down the back of his hands. He flinched and reared back, loosening his hold and dropping her. Pidge rolled, slipping out from between his hips and pulled herself away from Lance with her good arm. A second later, she landed on her back, Lance having lain against her front, tucking his bloodstained face under her neck and pressing her into the ground.

Pidge wedged her right arm out from under him and reached towards Shiro, who closed a firm hand around hers. 

This was a mistake. 

Within a moment Lance had seen the motion and lunged, snarling at Shiro. He pinned the older paladin to the ground with a forearm over his throat and  _ roared _ in his surprised face. Shiro looked into Lance’s snarling mouth and saw his incisors, longer and sharper than before. 

Allura jumped forward, leaping over Pidge as she scrambled up off the hard ground. Allura closed her arms around Lance’s waist and hefted him off of Shiro who leapt up and grabbed Pidge, pulling her protectively into his arms. Allura struggled to carry Lance backwards into the  trees and towards her speeder, but he fought her, kicking and snarling more and more violently the farther he was taken from Pidge. As she fell out of view entirely, Lance roared, wrenching himself out of Allura’s arms and falling to the ground. He turned on her, new-grown fangs bared and his hands drawn back as if they were claws. He slashed at her once, twice, and again, forcing her back each time until Allura was trapped between him and the trunk of a massive tree. He struck her once across the jaw, exposed beneath her visor and she cried out, gasping at the sting followed by the immediate, deadly burn. 

Within seconds she was struggling for breath. A moment later she had collapsed, unnoticed by Lance who was now charging back towards the clearing.

“Allura!” Pidge screamed as she ducked out of Shiro’s grasp and stepped forwards. She’d heard the cry and nothing else before Lance burst out of the trees. Lance stopped between two of the massive trees whose circle of roots enclosed them. He stared at Pidge and glared at the specter of Shiro behind her.

“Shiro, you need to go get Allura,” Pidge said quietly.

“But Pidge—” 

“He won’t hurt me—”

“You don’t know that.”

“I think I do,” she said. Watching Lance as he stalked towards them, shoulders hunched and his steps unsteady. Blood dripped from his wounds and splattered the leaf-strewn ground. But his wild eyes steadied when they landed on her. “Go to Allura, she should’ve been back by now and he could’ve really hurt her. I’ll handle Lance.”

“Call me immediately if anything changes,” Shiro said, edging away from Lance and towards the gap Allura had gone through.

“Of course,” Pidge said, steeling herself. 

Shiro departed through the trees, rushing through the foliage until he found Allura, lying prone against the base of a tree. One of her hands was covering her jaw, where the skin was already beginning to discolor, going pale and ashen save for the sudden darkness of her veins.

“No, no, no,” he panted, checking her pulse, a thready flutter against his fingertips. “Coran!” Shiro yelled into the comms.

“Shiro? Are you on your way back—”

“Coming now. Allura’s hurt. It’s bad.” He picked her up, running to the speeder and laying her in the small vehicle. He ran back to the clearing to get Pidge, hoping she would have subdued Lance—

Only to find it empty. Both of them were gone.


End file.
